Application of low dosage of copper oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles boosts bacterial and fungal communities in soil

Abstract

With the expanding nanotechnology, nanoparticles (NPs) embedded products are used in the agricultural sector to improve soil fertility. Thus, two typical metal oxides NPs and their mixtures were applied in different doses to evaluate the impacts on soil microbes. CuO and ZnO NPs boosted soil microbial communities as reflected by the increased number of extractable bacterial or fungal groups and the enlarged values of Chao 1, ACE, and Shannon indices. Relative abundance of some susceptible taxa such as Sphingomonadales increased with increasing concentrations of ZnO NPs, while IMCC26256 decreased with increasing concentrations of CuO NPs. The mixture of CuO and ZnO NPs did not show more promotional effects on the soil bacterial community than the sum of individual effects. Increased soil organic carbon mitigated the impacts on soil bacteria for CuO NPs, but not for ZnO NPs. As micro-nutrients, the ions released from CuO and ZnO NPs had the potential to promote soil microbial community richness and diversity. However, the positive impacts of MNPs were impaired at dosage higher than 250 mg kg−1 soil (213.08 mg kg−1 soil of Cu, 162.73 mg kg−1 soil of Zn). Thus, the application dose and soil type other than the coexistence of MNPs should be considered before the wide use in increasing agricultural productivity.